Black History Month Conversation Series – Episode 4

Black History Month Conversation Series

In our newest Conversation Series, we highlight and celebrate Black History Month. During the month of February, we will highlight and celebrate a number of Region IV’s professionals that identify as Black or African American.

Episode 4 | Dr. Wendy Windsor

In this episode of Region IV’s Black History Month Conversation Series, we sit down with Dr. Wendy Windsor, Director of Campus Recreation at Tulane University, and newly-elected NIRSA President Elect, to talk about her experience as a Black woman in campus recreation.

In this conversation, Wendy chronicles her progression in campus recreation, from her start at Texas A&M University-Kingsville to Tulane, with stops at Middle Tennessee State University, LSU and UCLA along the way. The self-proclaimed “Southern girl” missed home, and when a “no-brainer” opportunity at Tulane University in New Orleans opened up, Wendy returned to Region IV and returned to family and friends.

When asked about honoring Black History month and celebrating her own identity as a Black woman, Wendy shared this:

I always like to think about Black History Month as the celebration of Black excellence. For me, it’s really about taking the time to reflect and give honor and recognition to those that came before me, those that paved the way for so many of us, especially women of color, Black women, to really step up and become those leaders we know that we can become.

It is about taking time to really, truly think about those that were instrumental for me, you know, my role models, my mentors. (To) think about what my accomplishments are, because we really don’t take the time to really celebrate our own personal achievements enough. And I think especially as Black women, the road to success is hard, and so to be able to really say, “Hey, you know what? I made it! And I need to be proud and celebrate who I am,” is a key.

While Wendy serves as a mentor and role model to many in our region and across our field, she highlighted a few of her own: Juliette Moore, “the one who laid out the sweat and tears, and really showed us that if you set your mind to it, anything is possible” for women of color; and Jocelyn Hill, someone who Wendy found early on that she “looked like…and identified with, ” someone that helped groom and build her up in the early stages of her career.

Wendy also referenced ABC’s Robin Roberts as a non-NIRSA role model. Sharing similarities, including being Southerners, Wendy viewed Robin’s success “as the roadmap for myself…If someone like her, from a small, county town in the South can really make it on the national level, then I have the possibility as well.”

Wendy shares “the natural mentorship” working with and supervising Black professionals over her career, including “a hard lesson I had to learn”:

We, especially as Black women, have a certain level of expectations for ourselves. Therefore, when you see other Black males and women in our profession trying to navigate this system that we have to navigate, those same expectations you have for yourself and…all the time you have for those individuals as well. And I had to learn that, “Okay, you know what? You may have to lower your expectations,” because my expectations are extremely high. What tended to happen was…”you’re too hard on them.” Sometimes I came across as too hard, right? So I kind of had to take a step back and say that this is a mentoring, a nurturing opportunity…

In the application process to serve the Association as President Elect and then President, Wendy was asked to provide “three priorities that you would identify and believe NIRSA should accomplish during your time on the board.” Amongst her priorities, Wendy identified “(Black, Indigenous and People of Color) support, recognition, and advocacy efforts.”   In her conversation, Wendy expanded on why that is such a priority for her and what that might look like for Region IV and across the Association.

Wendy will be only the second Black woman to serve the Association its highest role as President, following in the footsteps of the aforementioned Juliette Moore.

The conversation wraps up with some advice and tangible action steps from Wendy:

• For aspiring Black professionals:
  • Have resiliency and perseverance; “the road may not be an easy one”
  • Have a board of directors – “position yourself with four or five individuals that are going to be those key professional players throughout your career”
  • Hold true to your values, regardless
• For non-black allies and accomplices:
  • Ask “what can we be doing?”
  • Continual self-education and understanding
  • Have conversations with people who can share their experiences, and listen
  • Be confident to speak up when you see something that isn’t right

For more information about Wendy’s NIRSA priorities, to connect with the Black Women of NIRSA network, or just to chat, feel free to contact her via e-mail.

About Black History  Month

Black History Month is the annual celebration of achievements by Black and African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans in the early 1900s. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month.